


it's a different kind of danger

by blackkat



Series: ZabuRin Drabbles [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Falling In Love, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 01:54:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20018320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackkat/pseuds/blackkat
Summary: Konoha is a hell of a lot different from Kiri. Not just the fact that it’s overwhelmingly green, or the fact that it’s so fucking big that Zabuza keeps getting lost no matter where he goes, but—The people are different, too.





	it's a different kind of danger

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt: Zabuza/Rin + idk what but like. young. small zabuza crushin on that cool girl.

Konoha is a hell of a lot different from Kiri. Not just the fact that it’s overwhelmingly green, or the fact that it’s so fucking _big_ that Zabuza keeps getting lost no matter where he goes, but—

The people are different, too. Zabuza was prepared for that; his jounin instructor had warned them, cold and mocking, about Konoha nin and their bleeding hearts, Konoha nin and their uselessness, the way they have to rely on teamwork to accomplish what one Kiri nin alone can do with ease. And yeah, Zabuza’s seen a hell of a lot more smiles in a few days here than he’s seen in Kiri in his life, but.

Konoha doesn’t have castes, either.

That one took a while to figure out, and Zabuza still isn't entirely convinced he’s got it right. But there are no obvious, visible differences in clothing, in wealth, in standing. No one’s getting spit at on the street, and if there’s a run-down slum where they put all the low-caste shinobi, Zabuza certainly can't find it. He’s wandered as much as he can, avoiding the inn where his team is staying, and—

There’s just no sign of anything like Kiri's system, and no one seems to mark Zabuza as low-caste, to understand what that means. He’d been wary, the first time he tried to buy a meal, but there just wasn’t a reaction. A glance at his hitai-ate, but nothing else. _Abso-fucking-loutely nothing_. Zabuza just can't understand it.

Or maybe he can, because Kiri is shit in general, and if other places don’t bother with shit like castes, maybe that’s just one more example of it.

Careful, wary of getting yelled at to leave—because this area’s clearly a nice one, even in an already nice village—Zabuza turns a corner, checking for landmarks so he can find his way back eventually. The road is fairly clear, and the looming Hokage Mountain is on his left, so that’s a decent marker, and Zabuza glances around, taking in the sprawl of heavily wooded training grounds. Big trees, not like the leaning, spindly ones that manage to grow through Kiri's ever-present rain. No wonder Konoha nin spend so little time on the ground.

The training grounds are tempting, because Zabuza’s been without his normal routine since they got here, and it’s not as though he’s going to ask his teammates or his teacher for a friendly match. One of his teammates had a little sister Zabuza slaughtered in the arena, and his teacher had a niece. The fact that Zabuza hasn’t gotten his throat slit in his sleep is surprising enough already; he’s not about to rock the boat.

But, of course, that means they’ll immediately toss him to the wolves if he gets caught somewhere he’s not supposed to be. Zabuza scowls, finger the hilt of his sword—

“Oh, hey!” a bright voice says, and Zabuza twitches hard, spins with a kunai already in hand. There's a Konoha nin right behind him, and Zabuza should have _heard her_ , that’s what he’s fucking good at, tracking and killing that way. That he didn’t means he might as well be dead, in Kiri.

“Hey,” he returns warily, and takes a sharp step back. She’s not holding a weapon, is pretty and smiling and unassuming, but she’s got clan markings on her cheeks. Konoha nin have a hell of a lot of clans, and a lot of them have bloodlines or at the very least highly specialized clan jutsus. That means the chances she’s dangerous are higher than Zabuza would like.

The girls laughs, though, and steps closer, looping her hands together behind her back and leaning in. “You must be here for the Chuunin Exams, right?” she asks, smoky brown eyes flickering up to take in Zabuza’s slanted hitai-ate. “Do you need help finding anything?”

“Where the hell were you when I got lost in the red light district?” Zabuza asks, and his voice comes out sharper than he means it to.

The kunoichi pauses, startled, and then laughs. Giggling, she steps closer, and says, “Sorry, it’s really big, isn't it? Genin get lost down there all the time, once they start running errands.”

Zabuza grunts, mildly relieved even though he won't say as much. “Momochi Zabuza,” he says instead, and a part of him is braced for the flicker that comes over most faces in Kiri, either at his family’s standing as defeated enemies or because of his actions in the graduation exam.

But there’s none of that in the girl’s eyes. Just a smile, brighter with the friendly overture, and the way she bounces on her toes a little. “I'm Nohara Rin,” she returns cheerfully, and glances past him, at the training grounds. “Were you looking for a sparring partner? I was on my way to do some katas, but training against a person is always more fun.”

“I'm not going to get tossed out on my ass for it, right?” Zabuza asks warily. “If someone thinks I'm attacking you or some shit.”

Rin grins at him, a little silly, a little sweet, entirely confident. It’s like something turns over in Zabuza’s chest, and he’s suddenly twice as aware of his own heartbeat as he was before he saw that look on her face. “It’s all right. Everyone who might see us knows I can hold my own.”

That’s…not what Zabuza would have expected a Konoha nin to say. But Rin is perfectly at ease, and Zabuza swallows past the strange thickness in his throat, nods once, sharply, and says, “Yeah. Thanks.”

Rin's hand finds his, and she tugs him on. “This way,” she says happily, and Zabuza doesn’t remember how to resist.

[“Watch the prisoner,” Ao says, cold and curt, and doesn’t look at Zabuza as he steps away. “Master Harusame is on his way to make the necessary alterations to the seals. See that no one rescues her before then.”

Zabuza hardly notices the dismissal, can't even pay attention to the new weight of Kubikiribōchō, freshly won, on his back. All of his attention is on the girl kneeling in the cell, half in shadow and half in moonlight. Her breathing is strained, and her face is pale, and there's a fresh seal carved into her back, but—

He knows her. He knows he because she’s been in all of his best dreams since the brief few days of the Chuunin Exams. Since he met her, and she was—kind. Kind and sweet and nothing like Zabuza had ever known in another person before.

In the shadows, Rin's mouth is a flat, grim line, but when she lifts her head, her eyes _burn_ right into Zabuza’s.

“Yes, sir,” Zabuza says to Ao’s retreating back, and doesn’t mean a word of it.

The lash of Isobu’s power curls like mist and tide around Rin's slim form, and as the darkness slides to moonlight, she smiles.

Zabuza curls his hand around Kubikiribōchō’s hilt and smiles back, all teeth.]


End file.
